Schism
by Sokkaweekly
Summary: Toph is brave, fearless and completely able to take care of herself. But not always. Tokka oneshot.


_His sword flashed, the black edge cutting deep into the wooden surface of the shield. It split in half, unable to withstand the raw ferocity behind the blow._

 _Unable to cower behind his defences any longer, his enemy swung his own blade wildly, as though he was trying to swat a particularly annoying insect._

 _The untrained swipes were easy enough to deflect, and soon lead to the man leaving an opening he was quick to exploit, his weapon striking true._

 _As he turned from his fallen foe, he caught sight of an archer, too far away for him to engage. The man's golden eyes glinted terribly as he drew back his bowstring._

 _Following the gaze, he could see the target just ahead of him, completely unaware of the impending danger as she delivered a savage blow with a rock to someone who'd gotten too close for their own good._

The creek burbled, the rushing water meshing with the cries of the birds above him.

Part of him wondered why the noise relaxed him - his birthplace had neither running water, nor trees for bird to perch in. They were alien sounds.

But most of him was simply happy that there was something that could help soothe his ruffled feathers, even if only a little bit.

He scratched at the dirt beside him in annoyance, the earth clinging to the underside of his fingertips.

Why did she have to be so stubborn? Couldn't she see that he had only been trying to help? Sometimes he wondered if she ever cared about anything beyond her selfish desire for glory.

 _It took him only a split-second to make a decision; he charged forward._

 _To his side, someone thrust at him with a halberd._

 _Purely on instinct Space Sword rose up to meet it, ripping through the wooden handle and slicing the metal edge from the polearm. His enemy left with only a wooden pole, he moved on, threat removed._

 _He had time, but was it enough? He could hardly tell. People had moved into the line of fire - and he silently prayed to Yue that they would stay there._

 _The path between them was uneven with bodies and slick with blood. The battle raged on harder than ever, but he could barely hear the roars and screams - they didn't even exist to him._

 _He could see the searing orange of flame licking at solid stone defences with little effect. It would take far more potent burning to melt through those barriers._

 _The boulders twirled through the air, each coated in soot from the roaring blaze, before they darted forward to meet the firebender head on._

 _There was a sickening crack, but she had already moved on to her next victim, unconcerned with the fate of her previous encounter._

His shoulder still twinged, but he ignored the ache. There was little he could do about it, only time could completely heal it.

His eyes followed the lazy, winding flight of a dragon-butterfly as it swooped over the water's edge.

How satisfying it must be to live such a simple life - to have to worry only about finding food or a mate.

He dimly recalled such matters troubling him too, a long time ago. But even then they had been buried beneath far more important problems, only surfacing from time to time.

A shadow breached the water, eagerly snapping the hapless insect from the air and diving back into the deeps.

He blinked at the ripples it left behind, before sighing. Perhaps even the lowest forms of life had more worries than he imagined.

 _He risked a gaze to the side, as quickly as he could._

 _The archer's smirk was wide a he released his fingers, the taut bowstring springing forward to deliver its deadly projectile._

 _There was no time to think - he jumped forward, his muscles working harder than he could ever remember._

 _His body smashed into hers, bringing them both tumbling to the ground. Dazed and confused, they lay there for a moment before she wrenched herself back up._

 _His vision was hazy, and there was a strange pain in his arm, but he could clearly see her pale green eyes widen in fear and alarm._

 _As his eyelids began to close completely, he saw the world around them erupt, people flying through the air as the ground roiled beneath them._

 _His last sight was the archer wailing in horror as the earth itself tore open to devour him whole._

In the back of his mind, he knew that there was no point to sitting on the bank, wallowing in his churning emotions.

He had responsibilities, duties to perform. Not least of all was seeing to it that his armour was fixed, the hole patched up and the crimson stains removed.

But he couldn't bring himself to leave, to face the anger and terror he had been besieged with. The clash of words that had been far, far worse than the actual battle he had experienced.

To receive more scars on his soul that cut deeper than any blade on his skin.

 _"What were you thinking?!"_

 _His eyelids fluttered open, confusion winding through his mind like a serpent. Above him, green eyes blazed with anger._

 _Distantly, he filtered through the question, his mouth opening._

 _"You're welcome," he muttered._

 _It was the wrong thing to say._

 _The earth rumbled beneath the fury of the metalbender, her pale hands clenching in frustration._

 _"I'm welcome?" She hissed, her gaze little more than slits._

 _"Well, I did save your life," he answered, the words slurring slightly._

 _White teeth flashed as she snarled, red lips peeling back. For a moment, he actually thought she would bite him._

 _"You saved nothing!" She declared, and he could hear the sound of stones grinding together outside of the tent._

 _"If I hadn't been there, that archer would have-" he protested._

 _"Would have shot at me, yes. And I would have protected myself, and kicked his damn ass for it. Instead, you throw yourself at me and end up getting a freaking arrow stuck in your shoulder for it!"_

 _Her attitude was beginning to frustrate him. Here he was, having protected her from a threat, and she had the nerve to chew him out for it? That couldn't stand._

 _"Well, excuse me. I just thought I would do the right thing and prevent my best friend from getting killed, is that so bad? Don't tell me you knew he was there, because we both know that's a lie. There were too many people there for you to detect them all, and well - you certainly couldn't have seen him."_

 _The reminder of her condition only served to aggravate her further. Her fingers twitched as though she was contemplating strangling him then and there._

 _"I don't need your help. I don't need anyone's help! I'm not some damsel in distress than needs a hero to rescue her every five minutes. I'm the best damn earthbender who EVER lived, and I can take care of myself."_

 _He stared at her flatly, completely bemused by her tantrum._

 _"Why are you so worked up? It's me lying here with the injuries, not you. If anyone has a right to complain…"_

 _She growled lowly, sounding for all the world like a sabertooth mooselion about to pounce._

 _"You want to know why? My parents thought they could protect me too - and their worry was worse than anything life could have thrown at me. I didn't escape them just to have you and everyone else on my case as well! I thought you of all people knew that."_

 _He snorted in disgust._

 _"Don't be such a child, Toph. There's a difference between locking you in your room and stopping someone from putting an arrow in your heart."_

 _She gazed at him venomously._

 _"If I had to rely on you saving me all the time, then I would have been dead a long time ago. You can't even bend - without your metal sticks, you're nothing."_

 _And with those hateful words she strode off, leaving him alone with his breaking heart._

A frog clambered up on to the bank beside him, croaking at him once before hopping along. He watched the lengthy leaps in mild amusement, remembering the time Aang had fed the frozen body of one to him to heal a fever.

The little amphibian perched up on a rock, calling loudly to the other frogs several times, before turning to look at something and pausing mid croak, suddenly jumping into the water and swimming away.

Curious as to what had startled the little animal into fleeing, he turned to where it had been looking, before freezing himself.

A pair of bare feet stood in the mud, dirt caked onto them. Though he was fully aware of who they belonged to, he nonetheless raised his head, staring at his friend.

Her sightless eyes were hidden behind a curtain of her dark hair, and her lips quivered, but she didn't move.

He almost wanted to ignore her, uninterested in a repeat of their earlier fight. But something compelled him to open his mouth regardless.

"Hi Toph," he said neutrally.

"Hey Sokka," she replied, her voice softer than normal.

He said nothing else, and she stood there for a few seconds, before taking a step forward. He braced himself.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

His gawked at her, hardly able to believe his ears. He could count the amount of times she'd apologised for anything on one hand.

"You are?"

She nodded once.

"It was wrong of me to say that you're nothing. Or to get angry that you took an arrow for me," she continued.

He stood up, brushing himself off and looking down at her.

"I forgive you," he said simply.

She frowned, an eyebrow raising a fraction.

"Just like that?" She asked.

"Just like that. You're my best friend, Toph. It hurt to hear you say that kinda stuff, but you're still my best friend."

Her nose twitched, her pale eyes falling to the ground.

"I didn't mean it. Any of it," she said, her voice almost too low to hear.

"I know you didn't. But you gotta understand Toph, I didn't do it 'cause I thought you were weak or anything. I did it because if I didn't, you might not be here to talk to me now."

Toph nodded, her hands playing idly with the meteorite bracelet on her arm.

"You're right. I didn't even know he was there. I was just so mad - you could have died. Because of me. You got lucky that it only hit you in the shoulder, if it got you in a vital spot your armour wouldn't have saved you at all."

His arms reached out to encircle around her, pulling the younger woman towards him. She protested for a moment, before relenting and sinking into his chest.

"Better that then it hit you in a vital area. My past is filled with people I never managed to save, Toph. At least this once I succeeded. That's gotta be worth a little bit of pain, right?"

Her head rubbed against him for a moment, before she managed to slip free of his grasp and punch him on the shoulder, taking care to not hit his injured one.

"Just don't do it again, right? Katara won't always be here to heal your wounds."

His lips quirked into a smile.

"Maybe you could learn to heal. You're no waterbender, but a little first-aid knowledge never hurts."

Toph scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"No thanks. I like to beat people up, not patch them like torn clothes."

He shrugged, sitting back down by the bank.

"Suit yourself."

Toph plopped herself down beside him, her fingers splaying into the mud where his had been earlier.

"Sokka?" She whispered.

"Mhm?" He grunted, eyes sliding to her.

She was quiet for a few moments.

"Thanks."

His eyes roved over her reddening cheeks, before staring at her unfocused eyes that looked out at the creek in front of them.

He put a friendly hand on her shoulder, squeezing it for a moment.

"Any time."

They sat there for a long while.

* * *

Prompts: (word) battle, (object) armour. Words: 2028.


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